Imagine floating weightless in a spacecraft. The moon’s surface is outside your window. Beyond it, thousands of miles away, you see Earth, brilliant and blue.
For four astronauts, this experience will soon be reality! Their mission, Artemis II, is expected to launch in April 2026. They’ll travel around the moon and back over 10 days. The trip will cover a total of 685,000 miles (1,102,401 km).
Between 1968 and 1972, NASA sent 24 astronauts to the moon. These trips were called the Apollo missions. Since then, only machines have made this long journey. Now NASA has planned a series of at least five new moon missions—all with human crews.
“I’m really proud and excited,” says Victor Glover. He’ll fly the spacecraft, called Orion, during Artemis II. “Going back to the moon is good for humanity.”